The Complex Thing
by theLegendoftheDekuShrub
Summary: Loki's punishment was getting old. Deciding that he had learnt his lesson, he returns to Midgard with an entirely different motive. Loki/Natasha.
1. Imprisoned

**A/N: I've been meaning to write an Avengers fanfic since I saw the movie and finally, I thought of something! I hope you guys enjoy this and I'll try to update as much as I can. **

**The Complex Thing**

**by TheBlackTower'sCurse**

"I can't believe Odin sentenced me to stay in the dungeons for the rest of eternity," whined Loki.

"This is your own doing, Loki. Besides, it's not for the rest of eternity. Only until father sees fit," replied Thor.

"Exactly," he agreed with his brother for once. "Never."

For two months, Loki had been sitting around doing nothing in the dungeons below Asgard's palace. It was forbidden of him to leave until 'Odin saw fit' which could very well mean forever. Thor made an effort of visiting him every once in a while which Loki secretly appreciated. The dungeons were so excruciatingly boring that he was glad to have the company, even if his brother's tales about his day were very dull in Loki's opinion. All Thor ever talked about these days was Jane, Jane, Jane. Unless Thor had come up with his escape plan, Loki wasn't interested.

The moment he had been dragged down here, his very first instinct was to escape. He soon discovered that sections of the room were barricaded by a magical force field that prevented him from leaving. Not only did it prevent him from passing, it sent volts of painful energy shooting through him that drained all the energy from his body. His magical powers were useless in his invisible cage and what pissed him off the most was that it only affected him. Thor could walk in and out freely without being shocked to a state of oblivion.

After all this time, he hadn't managed to trick or even flirt his way out. At every meal time, a feeble-minded young woman would come and serve him his meals. She had long brown hair , piercing blue eyes and a pale complexion. Loki hoped that he could trick her into getting him out but she refused to make eye contact with him. It was like she was serving food to thin air.

Eventually Loki gave up on her. If he was ever going to get out of this place, it would definitely not be with her help. Or Thor's. He was just as useless. If only he knew how long the punishment would last, then he might just be able to endure it.

It had been two months since the alien invasion in New York. The amount of damage caused by Loki's army was horrendous yet New York continued to thrive. People were ecstatic at the now openly acknowledged existence of superheroes, and the excitement still hadn't seemed to settle down. Natasha, however, didn't find the alien invasions overly exciting.

S.H.I.E.L.D had assigned her two missions within the two-month time frame. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep her going.

Her first assignment involved infiltrating the Council member's computer databases to discover what information they had been withholding from S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury had lost all respect for the Council members ever since they ordered those missiles on one of the largest populated cities in the world. That reckless, stupid-ass move had made Fury wonder what other thoughtless decisions they had been making without his consent.

Natasha discovered that Fury was right to have been curious. After Fury had told them about Phase 2 being out of the question, they had gone behind his back to expand the idea further. Not only did they want to design weapons to defend the planet, they wanted to use the power from the tesseract to invade the enemy territory - which was just outright insane.

Her next assignment was to fly over to Austria where S.H.I.E.L.D had received intelligence that a team of crazy scientists wanted to take down the Avengers Initiative. Fury ordered Agent Romanoff to put an end to their devilish scheming before it could get out of hand. The last thing they needed was a bunch of nerdy teenagers muddling around with technology and weapons too advanced for their eyes to prey on.

Natasha thought she handled that quite discreetly, apart from the fact that she had to blow their head quarters to smithereens as they failed to cooperate with her. She deprived them of all their technology and weapons they had been working on and let that burn to the ground along with the building. Thankfully their HQ was situated away from any major establishments and even away from civilisation within the countryside. Any bystander who happened to see the explosion would have merely shrugged. That place was apparently rumoured to be a little strange.

She returned home exhausted from her mission and her flight home. The jet departed Austria at 4pm arriving in New York late in the afternoon. She called Fury letting him know that she was back and that she'd fully explain the success of her mission the next day. She was too sleepy to come into work for a few more hours. She needed rest.

Loki was lying face up in the gloomy dungeons of Asgard palace, just as he had been doing for the past four months. Nothing had changed. All he would do was lie on the dungeon floors staring up at the ceiling thinking about things. Anything to fast forward the day. Thor still visited regularly, yet the topic of the conversation was still the same. _Jane discovered a new star today ... Jane constructed her own telescope today ... Jane made me pancakes in the shape of bunny rabbits today. _Thor really needed to get rid of this woman. Just hearing about her, she was getting on his nerves.

The brunette woman still came three times a day, making sure never to make the mistake of looking at him. Her attempts were pointless. Loki sought no use for her and he barely touched his food anyway. All he was in the mood for was gazing up at the abstract patterns and shapes up on the ceiling.

It was the first day of the new month and Loki couldn't care less. The difference between today and tomorrow was nothing. Sometimes he would hear a drop of water hit the ground, but that was as far as it went for entertainment around there.  
Today he finally lifted himself from the cold, hard floor. He had grown tired of staring at the ceiling so he decided to give the wall a go. He was awaiting the arrival of his favourite brunette to bring him his modest breakfast of eggs on toast. Loki hadn't bothered to remove himself from the floor in two days so the woman arrived and departed with an untouched meal.

He could smell the whiff of the scrambled eggs coming down the stairs; however the woman carrying the tray did not have brown hair. Loki wondered if she had dyed it but soon realised the woman appeared to be somebody else entirely. She had long, wavy obsidian curls and was wearing a brown dress that complimented her petite curvy figure. She walked with a bounce in her step and she seemed to be whistling to herself. Loki couldn't quite catch the tune.

"Eggs and bacon for one Loki Odinson," she said cheerfully, placing the tray on the table.

_Laufeyson. _

He wondered what inspired should high spirits. The thought that anyone could be so jovial in these dungeons baffled him.

"Why thank you, Miss-"

"Oh, you can call just call me Mayla," she replied, startled that he actually wanted to know her name. "But my friends just call me May."

"Tell me, Mayla, you wouldn't know how to get me out of here, would you?" he asked amusingly.

"As a matter of fact, I do," she said playfully, "but I'm not going to tell you." And with that, she turned her back to him and ascended the stairs with an extra skip in her step.

A new hope brightened up Loki's spirits. Mayla knew how to get him out! _She will slip up eventually, and when she does I'll be out of here before she can blink. _

More awake than he had been in months, Loki sat down to breakfast and enjoyed it for the first time.

Natasha woke up that morning, refreshed and ready for a good day's work. Other than the mission debrief with Fury, there were no immediate jobs that required her attention. The debriefing was dealt with swiftly so she got to work on those odd bits of paperwork that needed ridding of.

She finished early and treated herself to an extended lunch break. Pepper had called her up earlier that week suggesting that they'd meet up for lunch soon. Natasha got the feeling that there was something Pepper wanted to talk to her about but she couldn't put her finger on it. Natasha was at a loss for ideas, so she arranged a time for them to meet up so she could find out.  
A few blocks away from S.H.I.E.L.D's HQ, Natasha found Pepper sitting outside the cafe they agreed to meet at. Business was slow that afternoon and Natasha liked having the peace and quiet. Especially since Loki wreaked havoc over the entire city.

Natasha sat down and leaned back into the chair."What's up?" she asked.

"I miss Tony," she said. Pepper was the kind of person who'd get straight to the point. Natasha liked that about her. She tended not to listen to people who didn't get to the point. She hadn't the patience.

"What do you mean? Where is he?"

"I'll start from the start," said Pepper. Natasha prepared herself for a long girl talk. Natasha wasn't sure what advice she could offer but she listened intently giving her friend her undivided attention. "Tony and Steve have finally started to get along."

Natasha humorously shook her head. She wasn't going to interrupt but she couldn't help herself. "So Mr I-Don't-Play-Well-With-Others has finally learnt how to play well with others."

Pepper continued: "Which I thought would be a good thing. Steve helped out with some of the reconstruction work on Stark Tower and I thought it was impossible that they were getting along. But now it's just getting annoying. Tony and I were going to watch a movie in the theatre room and have a night in, but then I find out that Tony's gone and invited Steve. Last night I couldn't spend time with him because he was over at Steve's. I wake up in the morning to an empty bed only to discover that, Tony and Steve are playing around in the garage with the cars and the Iron Man suit. I just want my Tony back."

"Take a vacation," Natasha suggested. "That way you and Tony can be alone and Steve won't be able to bother you."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Tony invited Steve."

"All you need to do is talk to him about it. It's as simple as that. I'm sure he'll understand. Steve will too," she said reassuringly.

"Yeah, you're right. It's just hard to talk to him alone sometimes. Tonight I'll talk to him though. Thanks for listening."

"Anytime."

"So what's up with you?" Pepper asked.

"Nothing."

"Oh come on. You one of SHIELD's top agents and you tell me there's nothing going on. I'm not buying it."

Natasha shrugged. "No alien invasions. A couple of Loki admirers were trying to follow in his footsteps, but I dealt with them."

Pepper wasn't exactly sure how Agent Romanoff had "dealt with them" but she seemed to get the general idea.

"Loki admirers?" she said with disgust. "Who in their right mind would like a man like Loki?"

_He's not a man, he's a monster._

"They were just a bunch of crazy teenagers who knew far too much for their own good. I guess they really weren't in their right mind. They did seem a little stoned."

Pepper chuckled.

They both fell silent as Pepper ate her open avocado and sun dried tomato sandwich. Natasha wasn't really hungry. She relaxed into her seat sipping at her coffee and looked around at the reborn city. The construction workers had been working day and night, trying to squeeze in extra hours into their busy schedules. It was work well paid off too.

"Maybe you should take a vacation of your own," said Pepper.

"I don't think that's necessary. I'm better off working.. Besides, if I'm not doing something I'll get bored."

"No friends or family you can visit?" she asked.

"No. It's not often you make many friends working for S.H.I.E.L.D. You're guaranteed to make a whole heap of enemies though."

"I don't suppose you feel like visiting them," Pepper joked.

"Oh yeah, I'll just pop on over to Asgard and say hi to my number one pain in the ass," she retorted sarcastically.

They both laughed. They continued talking about Tony and Steve and adjustments that had been made to Stark Tower since the war. When coffee and lunch was finished they said their goodbyes and parted their separate ways.  
Natasha headed start for the gym. Her coffee had given her an unexpected boost of energy and there was no work to attend to momentarily. She ran six and a half miles on the treadmill and spent a good half hour beating up the lifeless sand bag. When she had exhausted herself enough, she walked into the locker room and got changed. She decided she may as well go home early. There was nothing else to do.

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**A/N: What do you think? Keep writing? How was the characterisation? Let me know and I'll promise to continue writing. It's been fun. Please review. **


	2. The Escape

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers ... darn it. **

**The Complex Thing - Chapter II**

**by TheBlackTower'sCurse**

Mayla returned at lunchtime. Her mood hadn't changed within that short time period and she was still cheerfully humming quiet tunes.

"Figured it out yet?" she asked him.

"Obviously not," he replied.

"Would you like a clue?"

"I'm more curious to know why you would want to give me one."

"I don't think it's fair that Odin trapped you down here by yourself for all these months," said Mayla.

Now Loki was really curious. Did Mayla not understand why he was locked down here in the first place? Did she really think he was that worthy of redemption? Had she not heard of his crimes, not only on Earth but in Asgard as well? His feeble attempt of making the mortals kneel before him was clearly a brutal failure. A mistake that he only begun to realise once trapped with only his thoughts to accompany him, and one he definitely wouldn't be making again. He didn't wish to be King of anything now and he accepted that. All he wanted was to get out of this shit hole.

"I realise why I am being punished and I believe I have learnt my lesson. If Odin were to come and release me this instant then I'd be eternally grateful, but Odin doesn't work like that. He'll only release me once _he_believes I've learnt my lesson."

"Do you wish to escape?" she asked.

"More than anything."

"I will tell you."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "I hope you realise what you are getting yourself into," he said.

"They won't catch me," she smirked.

"Nor will they catch me," he promised her.

"I got in the very same way you will get out," she said cryptically.

Loki repeated her words over in his mind. How did she get in? Hadn't she simply walked? Loki didn't understand. He thought harder. Loki had only met Mayla twice today, and each time the girl had entered she had been smiling optimistically and singing a tune.

"The tune," Loki realised.

She nodded approvingly. She sung the small tune for him to hear properly this time and she darted off, just as suddenly as she had this morning.

Loki sung the tune. His voice was a little rusty but he hit the notes accurately. He reached his hand out to touch where he remembered the border of his invisible prison was. Feeling confident, he ventured further by taking a step closer. Nothing. The force field had vanished. He had never felt so relieved in his life. He was free and it was time to get out of here.

Once he was standing well away from his former prison he could feel his magic flowing back into him. He hadn't realised just how much he had missed it. He projected his illusion numerous times around himself, testing to see if his abilities were still in tact. He felt better than he had in ages, as if those months had acted to recharge his powers to their highest potential.

Now he needed to get out of Asgard. He couldn't just roam around the city without being seen by someone. Particularly Thor. He contemplated the places he could go. He was not welcome anywhere in the nine realms, nor was he too interested in hiding on some desolate, boring rock. Although, there _was_always Midgard.

_They'll enjoy having me back, _he laughed to himself.

So it was decided. Loki was going back to Earth, not to rule, but to simply annoy the hell out of everyone. He'd just have to stay wary of Banner.

Loki climbed the stairs two at a time testing if he could still walk and run properly. On his way out, he realised that there was still another obstacle standing in his way. Heimdall, the gatekeeper of the Bifröst. Heimdall had the personality of a rock. He hadn't a chance of reaching Midgard with Heimdall guarding the rainbow bridge. He thought about how easy it was for Thor to come and go as he pleased. According to Thor's long narrative that he listened to under much sufferance, Thor was currently in Asgard, most likely packing his ridiculous Midgard attire. He had plans to stay in Midgard for the week with Jane. Thor came by to tell him that he wouldn't be visiting him for a while. A _shame, _he thought sardonically, _ no more tales of Jane and Thor. What ever will I do without them?_

The only two people who would eventually notice his absence were Mayla and Thor. Mayla would have to pretend to serve him his meals each day and Thor wouldn't notice until he returned to Asgard. This gave Loki a head start advantage.

Pondering over ideas, he tried to think of some reasonable plan to pass Heimdall's watch of the Bifröst.  
_Perhaps I could jump into Thor's bag and let him take me to Midgard, _he mused to himself.

Loki chuckled at the absurd idea. _Actually ... That might just be the perfect escape._

Loki had dabbled in this sort of magic centuries ago. Being able to shrink his body into a portable size shouldn't be a difficulty for him. The spell would only last two to three hours which was more than enough time for Loki to sneak in and out of the Thor's bag. This plan wasn't ideal, but it was much better than the alternative – getting caught.

It wasn't long until Loki managed to sneak his way through the palace and into Thor's resting chambers. Thor had accumulated multiple articles of Earth attire since he had first been trapped there as a mortal. He had left a large mess of clothes lying around the floor as he was packing. His room was worse than a pig's sty.

Loki sighed. What a fool Thor was. Letting a mere mortal have so much control over him. Thor, the mighty god of thunder and son of Odin, defeated, so hopelessly in love with a human girl he could never be with forever. What happened to the brother he used to know? The one who would wave his silly hammer around like a mad-man, wiping out entire armies? The old Thor was evidently far away, lost in an alternate universe. He knew Thor wasn't that brightest person in the realm but now, it really did seem that Thor's brain was that of a potato.

He found Thor's packed Midgardian suitcase leaning against the wall. It was lying slightly ajar, perfect for Little Loki to squeeze into. He wondered where Thor was and how long it would take him to leave. It was rather late in the afternoon, so Thor was bound to be making his way over here soon.

Loki recalled the spell he had taught himself all those years ago. He uttered the spell in an ancient dialect and they spell began to take its effect. The charm worked rapidly as the magic zoomed around his body, shrinking down to the size of a salt shaker. He watched as the furniture seemed to grow taller and taller as if they had once been massive skyscrapers.

He made certain that he had cast the spell in the vicinity of the suitcase as he wouldn't have to walk all the way over to it as his miniature self. Loki climbed up the side of the suitcase and rolled through the opening in the zipper. He burrowed underneath a pile of clothing and waited for Thor's arrival.

Mayla was walking down the hallway to the throne room in search of the Allfather. She needed to inform Odin that she had successfully fulfilled her little mission . She didn't understand why Odin wanted her to tell Loki how to escape, but she decided it was better not to ask.

She found Odin sitting upon his throne in deep conversation with his wife, Frigga. Odin beckoned her forward.  
She bowed before him. "It is done, sire."

Odin nodded. "Very good, Mayla. You have done well."

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**A/N: Chapter two finished. Thanks for reading and don't forget to give me feedback and stuff. I need the constructive criticism. And if there are any characters that you would wish to see in future chapters, please let me know. I shall update soon. Reviews are much appreciated. :) **


	3. Loki's Bargain

**The Complex Thing - Chapter III**

**by TheBlackTower'sCurse**

Loki heard Thor's thunderous footsteps approaching the room. Just as Loki was getting ready to hold onto something, the bag suddenly lifted from the floor causing Loki to tumble across the length of the bag, landing with a muffled thud.

After what felt like hours of spinning and tumbling, Thor finally reached the rainbow bridge. Heimdall opened the gateway to Midgard and Thor ran into the portal. Loki thought that the trip from the castle to the Bifröst was as bad as it could get, but he was mistaken. It was nothing in comparison to this. He felt like a rock falling down a never ending mountain. When the sickening journey came to an end, Loki exhaled deeply, resting a little.

Thor landed in the very same place he had when him and Jane had first met. Jane was there, waiting for him with a broad smile upon her face. Thor threw the bag aside and walked over to Jane to embrace her in his muscular arms.

This was Loki's chance to escape. Once he had recovered from his dizziness he hopped out of the bag and started to walk. He would have teleported to his destination but he didn't want to risk using magic while he was little. Thankfully he was in the middle of nowhere too; that way, nobody could step on him. He was making more progress than he was expecting to. By now he was well out of the way of his brother and Jane. So he continued to put one tiny foot in front of the other until he gradually grew back to his normal height. And once he did, he could finally put his plans into action.

Natasha had just finished dinner in her apartment when she received a call from Fury.

"Romanoff," she answered.

"I need you to relocate the sceptre again."

"On it." She hung up. Nothing more needed to be said, and Natasha wasn't one for sentiment.

Since Loki had returned to Asgard, it was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s job - or more like her job - to keep Loki's sceptre hidden. Every once in awhile Fury would ask her to change its position in order to insure its safety. Originally it had been keep in her wardrobe because there was no chance of anybody finding it there. The second hiding spot was in the back of one of Tony's cars. She didn't see the harm in putting it in there. Those cars never seemed to see the light of day anyhow.

Currently it was sitting underground in S.H.I.E.L.D's basement. Natasha had locked it in a secret compartment within the wall which she didn't even think Fury knew about. Now it was time to think of a new place to store the weapon.

Nobody - not even Fury - knew of where she was hiding the sceptre. They thought it would be best that way, just in case somebody happened to be listening. Fury trusted Natasha enough to know that she wouldn't let it fall into the wrong hands.

She pulled on a jacket, grabbed her keys and drove to S.H.I.E.L.D. On the way she decided that she could always keep it hidden in one of the gym's sandbags. She knew they kept some old ones in the store room that hadn't been used in years. No one would bother going anywhere near them.

She walked past security without a fuss and descended the stairs to the basement. Even with the lights on the basement still felt dark and eerie. She walked through a series of tunnels and she located the section in the wall which contained Loki's sceptre. Or at least, it should have.

Natasha started frantically searching every corner of the compartment for the weapon but there was no sign of it. What was she going to do now? Fury trusted her to never let it escape her. She couldn't possibly tell the Director that she had failed him. She'd never be trusted again. She looked around the room for it but it was still no use. The sceptre was gone. How was that possible?

"Lose something?" asked a voice from behind her.

Natasha whirled again, pulling her gun from her holster and pointed it directly at the God of Mischief's head.

"Your weapons cannot harm me, Agent Romanoff," he said, walking towards her, sceptre in hand.

She ignored him and pulled the trigger. Loki swiftly deflected the incoming bullet with his sceptre. Natasha fired two more but they turned out to be just as useless as before.

"How'd you find it?" she asked, nodding towards the sceptre.

"You are not the only one who uses the hidey hole it seems."

Natasha cocked an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Agent Barton used it before I wrecked him."

Natasha silently cursed herself. She should never have hidden it at S.H.I.E.L.D. A smarter place would have been a bank vault or something of the sort. However, her chances of retrieving the sceptre now were extremely little. That didn't mean she was going to give up though.

" Why are you here?" Natasha asked.

"Whatever information I tell you, you would report straight back to Fury," Loki said, slowly walking towards her, caring little about the gun being pointed at his chest. "But you're not going to do that, are you? Report back to Fury and you'll be ever deemed a failure."

Natasha defiantly stood her ground, not wanting him to think his words were affecting him. "I'll take my chances."

"Then you're a fool. I don't see the need for you to inform anyone of my return to Midgard. It will only cause you unwanted trouble."

"Which is exactly why you're here. To cause more trouble."

"Not this time. Not entirely," Loki said. Natasha lowered her gun. In this circumstance it was proving pointless, especially since Loki was already standing inches away from her. "Yet I can't help thinking that a little bit of trouble is exactly what you want."

"I have enough trouble already, thank you," Natasha said, trying to keep a neutral expression.

"How about we strike a deal? If you tell anybody I'm here, I'll kill you, and perhaps Clint while I'm at it to. If you keep quiet, so will I."

"I'm not sure why you haven't killed me already," Natasha replied. She couldn't shake the feeling that he was up to something already. What was keeping the God of Mischief in Midgard? She couldn't risk telling Fury, now that her and Clint's lives were on the line.

"Do we have a deal?" Loki asked, ignoring her comment.

"Yes, we have a deal," she said, extending her hand to properly seal their agreement, but insistently froze as Loki leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. Then she shot at him. Natasha heard him laugh, once again unaffected by her bullets, and he teleported away.

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**A/N: Sorry for not updating. But I'm updating now, which is all that matters, right? Hope you liked this chapter. Feedback is much appreciated. :) Thanks for reading. **


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